Social%20Media%20and%20Crisis%20Planning

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Social Media and Crisis Planning
February 13, 2008
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Case Studies

• Virginia Tech
• Red Cross
• FEMA Press Conference
• Lessons from Hurricane Katrina

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During a crisis there is an expectation that an
organization will efficiently communicate with
customers, employees, communities and media.
However, the added ability to manage inbound
feedback and messages makes the overall crisis
response more effective.
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Strategies for Implementation

• Participate in Social Media
• Build a credible voice
• Dark portal or channel
• Design a system that simplifies

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Meeting Needs of Stakeholders

• Internal vs. Eternal
• Is the technology pervasive?
• Multiple channels of communication
• Push or pull? An opt-in system
• One- or two-way communication

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Meeting Needs of Communicators

• Pulling the trigger on messaging, who decides?
• Comfort with the tools
• Where social media fits in the overall strategy
• Business continuity and crisis communication

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The Communicators Toolkit

• When to consider a proprietary platform
• When your corporate reputation is dependent on
  communicating well in a crisis
• When there is a need to securely communicate with
  far-flung employees
• When it is likely that the core areas of the
  organization will be exposed to a crisis or
  natural disaster over the next five years
• When there is no budget
• Blogs and other publishing platforms
• The power of RSS and syndication tools
  (conversion of info to different formats)
• Twitter/SMS tools

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Features to Consider

• Content-management module
• Multiple channels of communication push, pull
  and two-way
• Secure site to ensure employee privacy
• Dynamic external News Room
• External hosting to support continuity
• Robust data security and transfer procedures

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Off-the-Shelf Solutions
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Matrix of Social Media Tools
Employee Site E-mail Push News Press Site Manage Content RSS SMS Phone Annual Cost
Employee Outpost ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 17,000
MessageOne ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 36,000
WordPress ? ? ? ? 5,000
Amerilert ? ? ? ? ? 4,400
PIER ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? 10,000
Second year 12,000 (3/employee) Can be
added with customization and additional cost
Fee for WordPress is one-time design fee
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Contact Information
Kami Watson Huyse, APR My PR Pro kami_at_myprpro.com
Blog Communication Overtones Ike
Pigott American Red Cross ike_at_pigott.name Blog
Occams Razr